I have a friend who quit his job while I was still in campus at a bank and now runs a movie shop in Thika. While we all thought that he was a fool to do that at a time when landing a job is not easy, he has proved everyone wrong.

He has since opened two more shops in the same locality and from the way he talks, business is always good.

In a day, a movie shop can make you at least 1K to 10K depending on the location and day.

Let’s say you get around 100 customers in a day each buying a movie at 50 shillings, that’s 5,000 in a day and 150K in a month.

Over time through quality service you can increase your customers and make more than that and you could open your very own chain of movie shops.

So what do you need to start a movie shop business you may ask?

A Breakdown Of What You Need To Start A Movie Shop Today

Choosing a location

If you have decided to open a movie shop, the one thing that you should consider before anything else is where your establishment will be located.

The location of a movie shop is mainly dependent on the traffic of people and how willing they are to buy movies.

A stall along the city pavements of Nairobi goes for around 25,000 and those within town going for 35-50K. Goodwill also comes into play if you want to acquire a stall for your movie shop.

Just ensure that if you decide to rent out a stall, it is in a busy area that gets lots of traffic.

So you have decided to start a movie shop? What tools of trade do you need? I have compiled a breakdown of all you need to start your movie shop business.

A fast PC – 35,000-40,000 shillings

A duplicator – Second hand one can go for 35,000 with 5 DVD writers

A rim of 50 discs – 400 to 500 shillings

A subwoofer – 5,000 – 10,000

Fast Internet – from 3,000 depending on the company supplying

An LED TV – from as low as 18,000 for a 32 inch one

MCSK license – 4,000 shillings

Business permit – from 7,000 shillings

Movie Posters – From 350 shillings

Running the movie shop

Now that you have already purchased all you need to start a movie shop, how do you begin operations? A movie shop cannot operate without movies. So where do you get these movies?

You can choose to buy your movies from online distributors who you will have to pay through PayPal or Skrill from 800-1500 shillings per movie.

Once the payment is complete the distributor will give you a down load link and then you can proceed to download your movie.

You can also choose the cheapest way like my friend and wait for others to buy the movies and then buy from them for 50 shillings.

That 50 bob can then make you from 1,000 and above once you duplicate and sell the same movie.

The good thing about running a movie shop business is that you rarely experience low season. A day will not pass without getting clients no matter where you are located.

With time you can expand your business and open other branches.

Patrick, who runs a movie shop business in Kinoo has since expanded his establishment to a movie shop, a cyber café, a photocopy business and has a video game parlor in the same room. That’s four businesses in the same room each bringing in its own income!

And there you go a breakdown of what you need to start a movie shop. Running a movie shop business as you have seen, does not require certain skills sets to start. However, there are certain laws like copyright that you need to be aware of if you don’t want to find yourself in running battles with the authorities.

Lilian is a Communication Officer at Career point Kenya? Need advice how to start a business? Feel free to email your queries to lilian@careerpointkenya.co.ke and I will get back to you as soon as I can.